Review: A Virus Named TOM – PS Vita (7.8/10)

Puzzles with a Pipemania feel have been on mobile for a while and some have been on Steam and ported on the PS Vita like A Virus Named TOM.

A Virus Named TOM is a game that ask you a simple question: how sadistic do you take your puzzle games and begins to show you how deep that rabbit hole can go and there have been a few games like that Metrico being one of them.

It starts off easy and even before the end of world one you are pulling your hair out and saying words that would have you grounded if younger. The thing that makes you keep going is the cartoony artstyle Misfits Attic pulls off and even shows in the cutscenes.

You got fired and have a virus who is TOM and by infecting your previous work, you try to destroy the company if only it was that simple. Bugs and other crazy traps will try and stop you and they pretty much will unless you outsmart them. By world four they have thrown so much at you it couldn’t get worse right? That’s where you are wrong and this game’s six worlds which have 10 levels each, will show you something new each time.

Weapons you won’t get but glitches will be your go to helper for the most part and it helps but the more you use it, the faster the bugs go.

The cutscenes are short but worth the price of difficulty when you earn them and each one is so evil yet charming. The music fits the game really well and I wouldn’t be shocked if after hours playing it, got stuck in your head and it paces so well and never lets up.

You don’t have a life bar so much as a gauge that starts with gold unless you’re on a puzzle that will almost make you lose. The more you get hit the more of the gauge you lose and once that is gone you have to start over unless you have a skip token.

Skip tokens are very rare and I wouldn’t use it unless it is a hard as hell puzzle because in each world you only get two. Loading is very quick and gameplay is very smooth on the PS Vita and I only came across one weird issue but then again it might have been my fault as I never reproduced it.